It took some convincing, and many failed attempts, for me to move past my love of pre-printed, shop-bought journals. There’s just something about the smell of new books, and when they’re new, they’re just so glossy and full of potential. Why switch to just printing your journal on paper? That sounds less glamourous, right?
Let me change your mind. <3
Reorder/Remove/Redo Until Your Heart’s Connect
Whenever I buy a new journal, I love it until I mess it up. I make a big mistake, accidentally skip a page, fail to fill it in for a day, and suddenly it feels like I’ve destroyed my winning streak and made a mess of the book. And, after that point, I lose my initial motivation.
By switching to printable journals, you can customise endlessly. You can remove pages you don’t like, move pages around after you’ve filled them in. You can even remove old pages you want to archive and collect them in a separate book. Never again will you fear destroying your journal.
Say Goodbye to Abandoned Planner Guilt
There’s a shelf on my bookcase where perfectly good journals go to die. It’s a sad place. I feel horrible every time I look at those lovely books that got used 10 times before being discarded for something new.
But, if you’re printing as-you-go, you’ll never leave pages unfilled. When you get the urge to try something new, you can try different pages with different prompts and designs. You’re never locked into what you began with. And if at any point you want to stop, you aren’t leaving 80 unused pages behind you.
Save the Planet
There’s such a feel-good aspect to reducing our consumption. Manufacture and transportation of physical good is a huge drain on the planet’s resources, and when you combine this with the abandoned planner tendency I mentioned above, we’re wasting even more.
By printing from home and printing only what we need, we’re minimising production and waste and doing a good thing for the planet. Go you!
Show it Off
Not many people have a journal that they made themselves. Having one makes for a fun talking point! Get inventive with your cover and turn your journal into a unique creative project.
Support Independent Creators
I always feel better buying something when I know the money will be directly supporting the creator and not passing into the corporate system to get dished out to the higher-ups who likely never even saw the product they’re profiting from.
When you buy from independent creators, that money goes directly towards helping them. It sustains their career and enables them to continue creating in a healthy, happy way, and that’s pretty amazing. As an independent creator: THANK YOU.